D7 Visa Approval

From what you've written, it appears that AIMA received all the documentation requested at the end of November. So you should probably receive a reply in January. The 60 days count from end of November. At least that's the feedback from forum members here.

@JohnnyPT Thank you so much for your reply. It does give me hope. I didn’t realize that it resets the clock. Hopefully, I will get an answer this month. I will let you know! Thanks again! 😊

@reynbod2003

The advice I can give you is get a local (Portuguese) lawyer, in Portugal, with good experience of helping US and European not on the  EU. It is quite difficult to understand the bureaucracy even if you are a local, let alone if you are a foreigner. Plus there are a lot of changes going on their immigration policies.

IBHwood has wright, the way to the lawyer with good experience will cost some money, but can reduce the time.

@reynbod2003
The advice I can give you is get a local (Portuguese) lawyer, in Portugal, with good experience of helping US and European not on the EU. It is quite difficult to understand the bureaucracy even if you are a local, let alone if you are a foreigner. Plus there are a lot of changes going on their immigration policies. - @IBHwood

Not that easy how do you find one with "good experience" in this area ?  Generally I find lawyers will not admit to being useless though I have returned to some and shouted at them whilst asking for their "complaints book" but this option is not open to persons away form Portugal.

I had a lawyer go help with application. And she hasn’t helped with this issue at all. I emailed her to no avail. Took the money to help initially and then has  gone silent since then.

@Strontium

We’ve been using R ***, she’s excellent. ***

My spouse and I started the process with a different attorney and ended up in disaster. Do not recommend her services.

here is a summary of what happened.

we had an unfortunate experience with attorney S***. We hired her to assist with obtaining a NIF and handling other legal matters in Portugal, paying €3,500 upfront based on her proposal. Initially, communication was smooth, and we exchanged several emails and even had three Zoom calls.

However, after the payment was made, S*** professionalism and responsiveness significantly declined. She missed two scheduled meetings, including one during a trip to Lisbon where we had a confirmed appointment. Despite numerous attempts to contact her via email and WhatsApp, she ceased all communication after we decided to terminate our contract with her. Besides her business pitch to us she never performed any duties on our case and is refusing to refunded the payment we made.

We have since engaged another attorney R*** who successfully completed the work within hours. Due to the lack of resolution and the unprofessional conduct we experienced, we are filing a formal grievance with the Ordem dos Advogados (Portuguese Bar Association) to seek accountability.

I share this review to encourage others to exercise caution and ensure clear agreements are in place when engaging legal services.

@reynbod2003

We have a similar problem. Paid 3500€ to S*** and never received anything done plus she has since stop responding to emails and messages plus won’t refund the money.

@froisnv

You can make a complaint to the Ordem dos Advogados - Portuguese Bar Association. You can find support on how to do this here:

Solicitors, Lawyers & Administrative division of Portugal:

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=941009

At the moment, it seems to me that lawyers are unable to fast-track cases with AIMA. So asking lawyers to speed up processes, rather than just giving legal advice, is just a waste of time and money...

@JohnnyPT

Correct, but that does not stop lawyers from accepting clients and receiving their money.

I've hear of one so called "immigration lawyer" who asked 2,000 Euros for each adult, plus 1,000 Euros for each child, for submiting the applications of a family of 4, total paid was 6,000 Euros just for... submiting the online applications last summer.

Anything that might come after that was extra.

Welcome to Portugal, the land of money grabbing sharks!

@Mariza.says

True. That's why this forum is useful, to help people do things themselves without recurring to these professionals. Almost all lawyers orientated towards this expat market are sharks indeed, although there are still a very few who are orientated towards the social cause...

We must have a positive thinking